Twin-Matic machine

Jorns have long been the innovators and trend setters with long length slitter folders. This has recently been demonstrated with the introduction of the Twin-Matic Machine. A machine which requires no flipping or rotating of the material, as it can bend both up and down.

Traditionally, light sheetmetal, rainwater goods or flashing manufacture has been with a conventional style long length slitter folder. A bottom clamp, moving top clamp and rotating apron or cheek to bend the material around the clamp point. Bending upwards has never been a problem. But the nature of sheetmetal is that often the bends must go down also. This has meant that the operators must remove the material from the jaws and either flip it over, spin it around or sometimes both. This may not sound like much but with an 8 meter flashing, one spin can cost both time, and if not done carefully, damaged material which will have to be scrapped. The time consuming spinning and rotating can more than double the amount of time taken to bend a flashing, costing money through reduced productivity.

Enter the Jorns Twin-Matic; a revolution in the sheetmetal world. Incorporating both top (up bending) and bottom (down bending) bending aprons, the Twin-Matic allows complex shapes to be bent without having to ever remove the material from the machine. The machine features hydraulic clamping fingers, which grab the material at the start of the bending sequence and feed the material backwards and forwards, positioning it for each bend. The operator inserts the blank, pushes a foot pedal and then stands back behind the safety light curtains, while the machine bends the profile to exacting tolerances and all at speeds that a human operator simply could never match.

This revolutionary design has been brought around by Jorns AG’s constant research and development into sheetmetal manufacturing. Comprising over 85 staff, including 6 full time design engineers, Jorns has been committed to bending machines for over 30 years. More than 5000 machines in full production around the world is a testament to their prowess and dedication to producing the best machines on the market. The Twin-Matic came about through analysing its customers’ needs and suggestions, and through the foresight of Kurt Jorns, the founder of Jorns AG. Using knowledge learnt from many years of innovation, Jorns developed the Twin-Bend into the capable flashing manufacturing machine in the world.

Watching the machine in action is like watching magic happen. The machine processes the parts at such speed that the user can barely keep up. The bending aprons move diagonally up and down both the top and bottom clamp jaws at super high speed, and are positioned for a bend in a fraction of a second. The bending speed is fast and the backgauge movement is equally quick. Seeing is believing with this machine. The speed is kept safe by the full height light curtain, which guards the area around the folding aprons operate, thus eliminating injuries from the equation. When the machine finishes the part, the top clamp opens right up and the part is presented to the operator, awaiting a push of the foot pedal before it releases the part. Cycle time is drastically reduced with, not only to the elimination of flipping and rotating, but also to the unmanned sequence, where the machine is left to perform its functions as quickly as possible. Mistakes are not made and there is no repositioning delay during operations.

Utilising robot welding, CNC machining and involved automation, Jorns produces a highly accurate and robust machine designed to work like a robot, full time and without a break. Optimised beam shape and link assemblies combine to produce machines with exacting tolerances on all parts produced. Special profiling of the top beam also ensures perfect bending performance. A conventional slitting head allows the machine to work like a conventional slitter folder. The slitting head mounts to the lower folder apron, and runs off a steel cable and hydraulic motor. Some other up and down folders do not include even the option of slitting on the machine, hence making slitting off line a necessity, lowering efficiency.

The intuitive and easy to use control system allows both office programming and machine based programming via the same simple interface. Operators draw the flashings on screen and are shown a bending simulation to ensure that the flashing can be produced in the efficient manner. The CNC5000 software is similar to their leading CNC500 software for conventional folders. Simple and effective screen layout, with buttons only displayed when they are available, and powerful graphical representation of the bending cycle mean anyone can learn the programme. Digital pressure switches allow the machine to be run at varying pressures depending on what material is being used at the time; this allows the machine to be run at much reduced pressures several times, assisting with machine longevity. The tapered backgauge option allows automated tapered bending and slitting via the CNC5000. Cones and tapered box gutters are easily produced.

All in all, the new Jorns Twin-Matic truly is the future of flashings and sheetmetal production. Elimination of operator intensive flipping and rotating of the sheet and drastically reduced safety concerns.

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